The Vidalia Bundle for Windows contains Tor, Vidalia (a GUI for Tor), Torbutton (a plugin for Mozilla Firefox), and Polipo (a web proxy) packaged into one bundle, with the four applications pre-configured to work together. Download either the stable or the experimental version of the Vidalia Bundle.

If you have previously installed Tor, Vidalia, or Polipo you can deselect whichever components you do not need to install in the dialog shown below.

After you have completed the installer, the components you selected will automatically be started for you.

Tor comes configured as a client by default. It uses a built-in default configuration file, and most people won't need to change any of the settings. Tor is now installed.

After installing Tor and Polipo, you need to configure your applications to use them. The first step is to set up web browsing.

You should use Tor with Firefox and Torbutton, for best safety. The bundle installs the Torbutton plugin for you. Restart your Firefox, and you're all set:

To Torify other applications that support HTTP proxies, just point them at Polipo (that is, localhost port 8118). To use SOCKS directly (for instant messaging, Jabber, IRC, etc), you can point your application directly at Tor (localhost port 9050), but see this FAQ entry for why this may be dangerous. For applications that support neither SOCKS nor HTTP, take a look at SocksCap or FreeCap. (FreeCap is free software; SocksCap is proprietary.)

Check to see that Vidalia is running. Vidalia uses a small green onion to indicate Tor is running or a dark onion with a red "X" when Tor is not running. You can start or stop Tor by right-clicking on Vidalia's icon in your system tray and selecting "Start" or "Stop" from the menu as shown below:

Next, you should try using your browser with Tor and make sure that your IP address is being anonymized. Click on the Tor detector and see whether it thinks you're using Tor or not.

If you have a personal firewall that limits your computer's ability to connect to itself, be sure to allow connections from your local applications to local port 8118 and port 9050. If your firewall blocks outgoing connections, punch a hole so it can connect to at least TCP ports 80 and 443.